The present invention is generally directed to a monitoring system and, more particularly, to a method and device for determining if a publication has not been read.
Retailers routinely mail a large volume of unsolicited catalogs and other sales literature to consumers or to the current resident. In many cases, the catalogs are thrown away in the trash, often times without ever being perused. As the typical response rate from direct mailings is about 2-3%, one would surmise that a large percentage, perhaps as many as 80-90%, of these catalogs are never even read. are generally retained on the mailing lists. Consumers from whom there has been no response are often times dropped from mailing lists after only a few mailings.
While it is important for retailers to know if consumers like or dislike their catalogs, the only feedback other than direct response is to conduct costly marketing research studies.
By concentrating their marketing efforts on active consumers, retailers reduce their advertising costs as a trade-off to increasing their customer base. But, after a period of time, retailers will once again resort to large volume mailings, many of which will go unread.
For companies like Lands End, which sends out 250,000,000 catalogs per year, the ability to refine their mailing list to consumers that are more likely to read their catalog would produce a tremendous cost savings while, at the same time, continue marketing to potential customers.
In the prior art, the problem of statistically surveying the readership of magazines (U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,771) has been addressed by inserting a switch and transmitter into the publication. When the magazine is opened, the switch activates the transmitter which in turn sends an identifying signal to a wristwatch type of device that records the event. Such a system is not suitable for the determination of catalog readership because it requires the need to deploy costly wristwatch receivers and to enlist the cooperation of most, if not every, consumer that receives a catalog. If cost were not a factor, the requirement to enlist every consumer is by itself a severe impediment.
Reference is made herein to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,726,771; 4,781,596 and 5,019,679, which contain disclosure related to the present application. Accordingly, the contents of the aforementioned three patents is incorporated by reference herein.
While the RF ID tag has been described above as comprising a mechanical seal or switch on the cover of a magazine or catalog, such a device can be applied to require the breaking of a seal in order to read or leaf through pages of the catalog or of the magazine included within or between the covers.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide the method and system which provides improved feedback to retailers concerning the reading of their mass mailed catalogs.
It is another object of the invention to provide the method and system which enables retailers to obtain quantitative data concerning the readership of their catalogs.
Yet another object of the invention is a method and system which enables retailers to obtain specific information about where their catalogs are mailed and who reads them.
The foregoing and other objects of the invention are realized by the method and system in accordance with the present invention in which mass mailed catalogs, promotional literature and the like incorporate RF ID tags containing and capable of wirelessly transmitting identification codes which identify the catalogs with which they are associated, as well as the addressees on the catalogs. With the invention, retailers, marketers and other organizations are provided with a better system and means for determining who, when and where their catalogs are being or are not being read or reviewed.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.